Casey blasts US House GOP vote to cut food stamps

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania says a move by the Republican-controlled U.S. House to cut 5 percent from the nation’s food stamp program is wrong and mean-spirited.

Casey said during a Friday news conference in Pittsburgh that the bill is an ideological stunt by Republicans.

The feeding program is used by more than 1 in 7 Americans. The U.S. House voted Thursday, 217-210, to cut the program by $4 billion a year. A Senate bill would cut around one-tenth of the amount of the House bill, or $400 million a year.

The Census Bureau reports that just over half of those who received food stamps lived below the poverty line and 44 percent had one or more people with a disability.